The summers of childhood in the 1950s and ’60s meant blackberry picking followed by tasty dishes filled with the juicy, black fruit. I hold treasured memories of those berry-picking days in Western North Carolina and still love the taste of blackberries, now touted for nutritional qualities.

Blackberry is a popular flavor in food from ice cream to yogurt, and recipes range from salmon with blackberry glaze to cream cheese blackberry muffins. Blackberry cobbler is always sure to please.

Cultivated blackberries are now ripening in the Tampa Bay area. For a few weeks, I’ve kept watch on BlueYouth Berry Farm in Odessa, Fla. Carleen Gunter owns the place across the road from where she grew up long before blackberries were grown in neat, even rows, pruned and without the menacing thorns of wild ones.

Gunter’s varieties, with American Indian names such as Quachita and Natchez, were hybridized at the University of Arkansas. In 1964, professor James Moore began the blackberry cultivation program there that crossed thorny and thornless varieties. Without genetic modifications, these varieties produced the sturdy producers that grow at BlueYouth.

It doesn’t take long to fill a bucket with the large blackberries at BlueYouth. While I’m picking, my thoughts drift back to a time when I often met trouble when sent out in the pasture with my tin pail to gather wild blackberries near Franklin in the N.C. mountains.

Surely, one of my grandma’s motives was to keep me busy while she and mom tended the garden or were busy preserving foods for winter. I often took liberties from berry-picking especially when I could find Old Jerse, our cow. I’d milk her for the sheer joy of doing it, then slurp down the rich, sweet milk from my blackberry pail while sitting on a rock in the sunshine.

My sister, the rule follower, would hightail it straight to the house to tattle. Grandma was gentle about things; Mom was more direct with a few swats on my hindside as a reminder not to milk Old Jerse midday even if she was gentle as a family dog and tolerant of my 5-year-old ways.

On the plus side, once the berries were picked, delicious dishes followed, including favorites in the southern Appalachian region – cobblers, cakes and a sauce that was regionally called “larrup.”

Nutritionally, a cup of blackberries has about 62 calories. They’re a good source of fiber, as well as vitamin C, vitamin K and folic acid.

As if taste was not reason enough to enjoy blackberries.

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BREAD

Blackberry Cream Cheese Muffins

2/3 cup (5 ounces) reduced-fat cream cheese, softened

1/3 cup butter, softened

1 1/2 cups sugar

1 1/2 teaspoons vanilla extract

2 large egg whites

1 large egg

2 cups all-purpose flour

1 teaspoon baking powder

1/4 teaspoon baking soda

1/2 teaspoon salt

1/2 cup low-fat buttermilk

1/4 cup ground flax seeds, optional

2 cups fresh or frozen blackberries

1/4 cup finely chopped roasted pecans or walnuts

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

Combine cream cheese and butter in a large bowl. Beat with a mixer at high speed until well blended. Add sugar and beat until fluffy. Add vanilla, egg whites and egg. Beat well.

Combine flour, baking powder, baking soda and salt in separate bowl. With mixer on low speed, add, in alternating batches, the flour mixture and buttermilk to the cream cheese mixture, beginning and ending with flour mixture. Stir in ground flax if using. Gently fold in blackberries and nuts.

In a small bowl, dissolve baking soda in buttermilk and add alternately with dry ingredients to the sugar/egg mixture. Incorporate well between additions. Stir in jam. Bake in a greased 11-by-17-inch sheet pan for 30 minutes.

Yields at least 12 servings.

Recipe from “Mountain Cooking” by John Parris.

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CONDIMENT

Larrup (Blackberry Sauce)

4 to 5 cups blackberries

1/2 cup water

1/4 cup cornstarch

1 cup sugar

Place berries and water in a large saucepan over medium-high heat and bring to a boil. Mix cornstarch and sugar and add to berries. Continue to boil gently for 5 to 10 minutes until thickened.

Serve hot to the table and spoon over fresh-baked hot, split and buttered biscuits.

Yields 2 to 3 cups.

Recipe from Gail Diederich.

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DESSERT

Blackberry Cobbler

1 cup of self-rising flour

1 cup of sugar

1 cup of milk (see cook’s notes)

1/2 cup (1 stick) butter, softened

2 cups lightly sugared blackberries (see cook’s notes)

Cook’s note: Almond or soy milk can be used. This recipe also can be made with a variety or mixture of fruits, including fresh sliced and sugared peaches, drained canned peaches, strawberries or blueberries. A great cobbler can be had by using a bag of frozen mixed berries.

Preheat oven to 375 degrees.

Lightly grease a 2-quart baking dish. Mix the first four ingredients and whisk until thoroughly mixed. Pour into baking dish. Spoon fruit evenly over top of batter. Bake 50 to 55 minutes. While baking, fruit sinks and batter stays on top to make a rich brown topping.

Yields 4 to 6 servings.

Recipe from driscolls.com.

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MAIN DISH

Salmon With Blackberry Ginger Glaze

1 cup water

1 1/2 cups blackberries

1-inch piece of ginger, peeled and sliced into coins

Juice from 1/2 lemon

1/4 cup sugar

1 tablespoon olive oil

4 (8-ounce) skinless salmon fillets, thawed if frozen

Salt and pepper

Preheat oven to 400 degrees.

In a saucepan, combine water, blackberries, ginger and lemon juice. Over medium heat, bring to a boil. Reduce to simmer and cook until berries are tender, about 5 to 7 minutes. Remove from heat and strain into a bowl, using spoon to press blackberries through or use food mill to lightly grind.

Return mixture to pan, add sugar and bring to a boil. Lower heat and simmer for about 20 minutes, until reduced to half, stirring often to avoid burning. Remove from heat and cool.

Use nonstick foil or brush a baking sheet lightly with olive oil. Place salmon fillets on pan, brush with oil and sprinkle with salt and pepper. Brush cooled blackberry mixture over salmon and bake 4 to 5 minutes. Brush again with blackberry mixture. Turn oven to broil and continue cooking for 3 to 4 minutes.